332 Statistical Account of 



tity of it wliile thev are detachine: it from the sides of the con- 

 densers, into which they are obliged to go: thus they undergo 

 a copious salivation ; and after woriiing in tliis way several years 

 in the furnaces, shiverings come on, which do not permit them 

 to stand erect ativ longer. Several workmen are in this melan- 

 choly condition at Idiia. 



Aluch fewer goitres are met with in Idria than in the moun- 

 tainous countries of Carintliia and Slyria. Cretins are also very 

 rare. 



The fair sex in Idria, without being eitlier beautiful or fresh- 

 coloured as in other mountainous countries, nevertheless enjoy 

 a robust and vigorous health. The sedentary life of the women, 

 who are occupied at khia in making a common sort ot lace ; 

 the little care which they take of their persons; the food which 

 they eat, being always fariiiaceous, with laid, and cabbages 

 soured by fermentation ; tlie extremely liigh temperature iu 

 which they live, the small windows of their apartii;ents being 

 but rarely opened ; — all these circumstances concur in taking 

 away their colour, diminishing their vivacity, and giving their 

 countenances at the same time a sickly hue. 



Many of the male children are affected with rickets. Indeed, 

 the boys seem in general to have a less robust constitution than 

 the girls, with the exception of those whose parents are em- 

 ployed in the woods. It may be easily conceived, that the son 

 of a miner who is introduced to his father's work at the early 

 age of twelve, exerts his bodily powers much more than the son 

 of a wood-cutter, \<'ho does not handle the axe until he is of 

 mature age. The former, therefore, become old and decrepid 

 much sooner than the latter, who of course breathe a purer 

 air. 



The water drunk by the working classes at Idria is very pure, 

 although it filters through limestone. Chemical analysis ex- 

 hibits but trifling quantities of foreign matters held in solution. 

 The sub-carbonates of lime and of magnesia are manifested by 

 the reagents. 



It has been also remarked, that the good races of annnals, and 

 particularly those of liorned cattle, do not prosper here : they 

 are in fact always poor, and miserably fed. The iuliabitants of 

 these countries ascribe this defect to the mercurial and sulphur- 

 ous vapours which escape from the furnaces while they are at 

 work, which is not the case generally, l)ut only once a week. 



This observation, which I am authorized to consider as very 

 ill-founded, would deserve a particular examination in a separate 

 work. I shall content myself for the present with detaihng, in 

 a summary way, what has been taught me by an experience of 

 four yeai^s in concert with some skilful physicians, 



Jiijluence 



